Media Release
Basel, 16 November 2006
The Salzburg Festival and Roche launch the “Continents...” cultural project
Ground-breaking partnership encourages access to innovation in music and science for young people
The Salzburg Festival and Roche are to establish a joint cultural project in the area of contemporary music: The new “Continents...” series will invite audiences at the Salzburg Festival on a journey of discovery through the compositional and aesthetic universe of prominent 20th/21st century composers. This collaboration between Roche and the Salzburg Festival will primarily allow European university and college students to attend contemporary music events in Salzburg, and will attempt to uncover the link between innovation in music and art on the one hand and science on the other. In addition, new communication channels will be opened up, giving both the Salzburg Festival and Roche access to interesting new target groups.
Roche is supporting the “Continents...” project at the Salzburg Festival as part of its commitment to contemporary music and art and is making a substantial financial contribution that will allow a ticket price reduction of more than 30% for the next five years. Roche will also coordinate the marketing of “Continents...” at university and college level via its own networks and channels and will run a project specifically aimed at upcoming young scientists, “Roche Continents – Youth! Arts! Science!”. As part of this project, up to 100 students of science, music and the arts from around the globe will be given the opportunity to spend a week in Salzburg exploring various topics from the world of art and science in a series of workshops.
Speaking of the project, Franz B. Humer, Board Chairman and CEO of Roche, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Roche is able to collaborate with the Salzburg Festival in launching ‘Continents...’. This new partnership is a good match with our other successful projects in the area of innovative contemporary music: Roche Commissions in Switzerland and the United States, and the international Roche’n’Jazz initiative. Through this new project we aim to encourage young people to explore different aspects of contemporary music and in this way to indirectly heighten their fascination with innovation in general, and scientific innovation in particular."
Helga Rabl-Stadler, President of the Salzburg Festival comments: “Thanks to Roche, the Festival and Markus Hinterhäuser, who came up with the idea for ‘Continents…’ and who will be responsible for programming the concerts, can pick up where the successful ‘Zeitfluss’ tradition of the 1990s left off. From 2007, there will once again be a ‘festival within the festival’. With its generous five-year commitment, Roche has secured the budget for an important piece of programming. But Roche also stands to gain from its sponsorship of the project. A critical confrontation with New Music can give people the courage to change various aspects of their lives. Young scientists will recognise that art is the real arena in which ideas are being developed today.”
“Continents...” will get underway in summer 2007 with the works of the Italian transcendental composer Giacinto Scelsi. Scelsi (1905-1988) was one of the leading exponents of 20th century music. The poetry of Scelsi's music – and this is particularly true of his solo pieces, originally for piano, but later for a whole variety of instruments – is derived from its supreme concentration on a single note and the timbral variations which slowly unfold and evolve. In 2008, the “Continents…” series will focus on Salvatore Sciarrino and in 2009 on Iannis Xanakis.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 27.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries. In addition to supporting a large number of humanitarian projects and promoting scientific research, it has a long-standing commitment to contemporary art as a means of expressing innovation. Thus Roche has provided funding for the Mario Botta-designed Museum Tinguely in Basel since 1996. It also sponsors Roche Commissions, a joint project with the Lucerne Festival, Carnegie Hall and Cleveland Orchestra involving the commissioning and public premiere of new works by contemporary composers, as well as promoting challenging jazz through its international Roche’n’Jazz initiative. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
Further information
- Roche cultural sponsorship
- Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival and Roche launch the “Continents...” cultural project
Ground-breaking partnership encourages access to innovation in music and science for young people
The Salzburg Festival and Roche are to establish a joint cultural project in the area of contemporary music: The new “Continents...” series will invite audiences at the Salzburg Festival on a journey of discovery through the compositional and aesthetic universe of prominent 20th/21st century composers. This collaboration between Roche and the Salzburg Festival will primarily allow European university and college students to attend contemporary music events in Salzburg, and will attempt to uncover the link between innovation in music and art on the one hand and science on the other. In addition, new communication channels will be opened up, giving both the Salzburg Festival and Roche access to interesting new target groups.
Roche is supporting the “Continents...” project at the Salzburg Festival as part of its commitment to contemporary music and art and is making a substantial financial contribution that will allow a ticket price reduction of more than 30% for the next five years. Roche will also coordinate the marketing of “Continents...” at university and college level via its own networks and channels and will run a project specifically aimed at upcoming young scientists, “Roche Continents – Youth! Arts! Science!”. As part of this project, up to 100 students of science, music and the arts from around the globe will be given the opportunity to spend a week in Salzburg exploring various topics from the world of art and science in a series of workshops.
Speaking of the project, Franz B. Humer, Board Chairman and CEO of Roche, said: “I am absolutely delighted that Roche is able to collaborate with the Salzburg Festival in launching ‘Continents...’. This new partnership is a good match with our other successful projects in the area of innovative contemporary music: Roche Commissions in Switzerland and the United States, and the international Roche’n’Jazz initiative. Through this new project we aim to encourage young people to explore different aspects of contemporary music and in this way to indirectly heighten their fascination with innovation in general, and scientific innovation in particular."
Helga Rabl-Stadler, President of the Salzburg Festival comments: “Thanks to Roche, the Festival and Markus Hinterhäuser, who came up with the idea for ‘Continents…’ and who will be responsible for programming the concerts, can pick up where the successful ‘Zeitfluss’ tradition of the 1990s left off. From 2007, there will once again be a ‘festival within the festival’. With its generous five-year commitment, Roche has secured the budget for an important piece of programming. But Roche also stands to gain from its sponsorship of the project. A critical confrontation with New Music can give people the courage to change various aspects of their lives. Young scientists will recognise that art is the real arena in which ideas are being developed today.”
“Continents...” will get underway in summer 2007 with the works of the Italian transcendental composer Giacinto Scelsi. Scelsi (1905-1988) was one of the leading exponents of 20th century music. The poetry of Scelsi's music – and this is particularly true of his solo pieces, originally for piano, but later for a whole variety of instruments – is derived from its supreme concentration on a single note and the timbral variations which slowly unfold and evolve. In 2008, the “Continents…” series will focus on Salvatore Sciarrino and in 2009 on Iannis Xanakis.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 27.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion Swiss francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries. In addition to supporting a large number of humanitarian projects and promoting scientific research, it has a long-standing commitment to contemporary art as a means of expressing innovation. Thus Roche has provided funding for the Mario Botta-designed Museum Tinguely in Basel since 1996. It also sponsors Roche Commissions, a joint project with the Lucerne Festival, Carnegie Hall and Cleveland Orchestra involving the commissioning and public premiere of new works by contemporary composers, as well as promoting challenging jazz through its international Roche’n’Jazz initiative. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
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Further information
- Roche cultural sponsorship
- Salzburg Festival